We were informed that Jack Garrick passed away at the age of 90 in New Zealand. We would like to express our condolences- please find below an obituary by Clitnon Duffy:

Professor J.A.F. (Jack) Garrick, MSc, PhD NZ, FZS (1928-2018)

Clinton Duffy

As a child one of my most treasured possessions was a copy of Sharks a Reed Science Colourbook by J. A. F Garrick (A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1965). It was a small hardcover book with a dramatic, somewhat garish painting of the head of a shortfin mako on the cover. Inside was quite different. Although written for children its 32 pages were filled with facts and numerous detailed, anatomically correct paintings of living sharks going about their lives, as well as of their internal anatomy. Best of all, at the back there was an identification guide consisting of several pages of paintings of different species in lateral view. I memorized all of these. Once, while watching the weigh-in for a local fishing competition I stepped up and identified a strange black shark caught by a bemused fisher as Dalatias licha. No one believed me of course, so my father took me home to get the book. Back at the competition there was grudging acceptance that this strange creature bore some resemblance to the picture I was pointing at. The author of the book’s name was noted, a call made to Victoria University, and the following day the Wairarapa Times Age proclaimed that Professor Garrick had determined the bizarre creature to be a seal shark. It was close to 30 years before I finally got to meet the man himself. He was sitting in his lounge chatting with Eugenie Clark.

With the passing of Professor John Andrew Frank (Jack) Garrick on August 30th the marine science community lost another of its pioneers and inspirational figures. Jack studied at Victoria University of Wellington, then Victoria University College (a constituent college of the University of New Zealand), obtaining his BSc Zoology in 1950 and beginning his masters degree the following year under Professor L. R. Richardson. Richardson was one of New Zealand’s earliest deep water researchers, taking full advantage of the fact that Cook Strait is virtually on the university’s door step. Jack became deputy leader of the university’s nascent Cook Strait Project publishing the first detailed morphological descriptions of the blind electric ray Typhlonarke aysoni and co-authoring the first records of Bathytoshia lata (as Dasyatis thetidis) and the slender snipe eel (Nemichthys scolopaceus) from New Zealand before receiving his MSc in 1953 (Garrick 1951; Richardson & Garrick 1953a, b). He was appointed as a junior lecturer in 1953 and published the first three papers in what was to become a 13 part series Studies on New Zealand Elasmobranchii in 1954. These included redescription of Bathytoshia brevicaudata and description of Gollum attenuatus (Triakis attenuata n. sp.). Victoria’s deep sea research team experimented with drop lines, traps, cone nets and beam trawls, regularly fishing down to depths of 2000 m. In addition, Jack developed strong relationships with whalers and commercial fishers (most notably Richard Baxter and Fred Abernethy) who provided him with valuable specimens. Richard Baxter collaborated with him in experimental deep water line-fishing off Kaikoura, collecting the first Etmopterus spp from New Zealand waters. Other notable members of the deep sea research team included Peter Castle and John Yaldwyn (Royal Society of New Zealand 1959). The activities of the deep sea research team attracted considerable media attention, and in 1955 Jack lead a much publicised expedition to fish the margin of the Hikurangi Trench off the southeast coast, North Island, New Zealand. The expedition was cut short by illness of the owner and skipper of the vessel but not before it had confirmed the occurrence of Heptranchias perlo on Motu-o-Kura Bank. Jack was made a lecturer in 1956, and received his PhD in 1960 (thesis in Zoology, Sharks of the Suborder Squaloidea in New Zealand Waters). His taxonomic research on Squaliformes clarified species concepts and stabilised names not just in New Zealand but globally by acts such as excluding Centroscymnus plunketi from Centrophorus; describing in detail key morphological traits and ontogenetic changes in these for species such as Centrophorus squamosus, Dalatias licha, Deania calcea and Oxynotus bruniensis; and erecting Scymnodalatias for the enigmatic S. sherwoodi. He is also credited with collecting the first specimens of orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) from New Zealand waters in 1957. Jack was made a Senior Lecturer in 1963, an Associate Professor in 1966 and appointed to a Personal Chair in 1971.

Upon completing his PhD Jack went to work at the Smithsonian Institution for three years (September 1960-December 1963) on his landmark revision of Carcharhinus. This project was the brainchild of Leonard Schultz, then Curator of Fishes (Garrick 1982, 1985; Compagno & Garrick 1983). He continued work on it at the Australian Museum, Sydney, in 1969 and at the National Museum, Wellington, in 1976. Throughout this time he worked closely with John Bass, Leonard Compagno, Jeannette D'Aubrey, Stewart Springer and Victor Springer. In 1982 when the review was published little was known about most of the species in the genus due to its complex, often confused taxonomy. Jack boiled the 95 nominal species in the genus down to 24 and described an additional species C. wheeleri (subsequently synonymised with C. amblyrhynchos). In defining the limits of the genus he excluded Carcharias gangeticus, C. glyphis, C. oxyrhynchus, C. temminckii, Carcharhinus tephrodes and Carcharhinus velox and treated 13 nominal species as species dubia. Like all of his work this review is beautifully illustrated, detailed and has stood the test of time. It remains the go-to reference on the genus. Most personal copies that I have seen are tattered and falling apart due to frequent use.

Despite his academic achievements I always found Jack to be warm and approachable, either in person or correspondence. Dave Ebert wrote upon hearing of Jack’s death:

... when I was a young MSc student starting out at MLML in the early 1980s I wrote Jack a few times about hexanchoids in NZ and he very kindly wrote me back each time. I continued to correspond with him into my Ph.D. years in South Africa and again he always took the time to write back, at least until he retired.

I always appreciated that someone of his stature would take the time to reply to a grad student who was half a world away and he did not even know. It was very kind of him, especially since back then people actually had to write letters.

Following his retirement in 1986 Jack took up a rural existence in Ohaupo, just south of Hamilton, New Zealand. He lived there until May this year when failing health required he move in with family. He is survived by four children, granddad to 10 and great granddad to three.

ReferencesCompagno, L.J.V.; Garrick, J.A.F. 1983. Nasolamia, new genus, for the shark Carcharhinus velox Gilbert, 1898 (Elasmobranchii: Carcharhinidae). Zoology Publications from Victoria University of Wellington, 76 & 77: 1-16.Garrick, J.A.F. 1951. The blind electric rays of the genus Typhlonarke (Torpedinidae). Zoology Publications from Victoria University of Wellington, 15: 1-6. Garrick, J.A.F. 1982. Sharks of the genus Carcharhinus. NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 445. U.S. Department of Commerce, Rockville. 194 pp.Garrick, J.A.F. 1985. Additions to a Revision of the Shark Genus Carcharhinus: Synonymy of Aprionodon and Hypoprion, and Description of a New Species of Carcharhinus (Carcharhinidae). NOAA Technical Report NMFS, 34: 1–26.Richardson, L.R.; Garrick, J.A.F. 1953a. Dasyatis thetidis Waite, a second species of giant stingray in New Zealand waters. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 81(2): 319-320.Richardson & Garrick, J.A.F. 1953b. A specimen of Nemichthys (Pisces, Apodes) from New Zealand waters. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 81(3): 467-468. Royal Society of New Zealand 1959. The Royal Society of New Zealand half-yearly meeting of the Council, held December 1, 1958, Napier Minutes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 87: 1-20.

Figure caption. Jack Garrick with a 198 cm TL male Echinorhinus cookei from Palliser Bay, the first record of the species from New Zealand and the first outside the type locality (Evening Post, April 21, 1959).

NEW PARTNERS OF SHARK-REFERENCES

Would you like to become a shark-reference partner? Please contanct us per E-mail!

Upcoming Meetings:

Save the date! 25. - 29. March 2019

The Mexican Society of Cartilaginous Fishes A.C., in coordination with the Planetarium of Playa del Carmen SAYAB, invites to participate in the First Latin American Conference of Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras, and the VIII National Symposium of Sharks and Rays.

5th International Whale Shark Conference (IWSC5) from 28-31 May 2019

From 28-31 May 2019, the town of Exmouth in the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area will welcome delegates to the 5th International Whale Shark Conference (IWSC5), a meeting of the world’s leading whale shark scientists, conservationists, natural resource managers and tourism managers. This is the fifth such conference to be held, following on from the successful IWSC4 held in Doha, Qatar in 2016. This meeting is timed to showcase Ningaloo’s world’s best practice whale shark management program and will follow the Ningaloo Whaleshark Festival, an annual community event that celebrates these magnificent animals.

IWSC5 will bring together local scientists, researchers and postgraduate students to interact with international colleagues and collaborators to explore all aspects of whale shark biology and ecology and how this can translate to direct, on-ground conservation efforts. Delegates from around the world will be treated to four days of presentations, workshops, social functions and experiencing the world renowned Ningaloo whale shark tourism industry to forge new relationships and collaborations and debate ideas.

A core focus of IWSC5 will be bringing together end users of the science being presented, such as tourism managers, marine park managers and conservation groups. This will improve the uptake and application of research and help develop collaborations between research scientists and managers and industry.

Palaeontologists, and we would argue neontologists too, need systematically useful, high-quality illustrations of the teeth when introducing each new living species. Schematic illustrations of the mouth gape are of little use. Proper photographic documentation of the dentition typically requires teeth to be carefully removed from the jaws to allow close-up photographs of each tooth morphotype in the dentition, possibly even by the use of a scanning electron microscope.

Extinct Chondrichthyes:KENT, B.W. & WARD, D.J. (2018): Addendum: A New Species of Giant Thresher Shark (Family Alopiidae) with serrated teeth. In: The Geology and vertebrate paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland / edited by Stephen J. Godfrey: 157-160New species: Alopias palatasiAbstract: The Neogene has a remarkably complex array of large macrophagous sharks (BWK, this chapter) that is well represented along the eastern United States. Despite extensive research on fossil elasmobranchs in this area, one species of large thresher shark (family Alopiidae) with distinctively serrated teeth has not been previously named.

GINTER, M. (2018): Symmoriiform sharks from the Pennsylvanian of Nebraska. Acta Geologica Polonica, 68 (3): 391–401New species: Stethacanthus concavusAbstract: The Indian Cave Sandstone (Upper Pennsylvanian, Gzhelian) from the area of Peru, Nebraska, USA, has yielded numerous isolated chondrichthyan remains and among them teeth and dermal denticles of the Symmoriiformes Zangerl, 1981. Two tooth-based taxa were identified: a falcatid Denaea saltsmani Ginter and Hansen, 2010, and a new species of Stethacanthus Newberry, 1889, S. concavus sp. nov. In addition, there occur a few long, monocuspid tooth-like denticles, similar to those observed in Cobelodus Zangerl, 1973, probably representing the head cover or the spine-brush complex. A review of the available information on the fossil record of Symmoriiformes has revealed that the group existed from the Late Devonian (Famennian) till the end of the Middle Permian (Capitanian).

BURROW, C.J. & TURNER, S. (2018): Stem chondrichthyan microfossils from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Welsh Borderland. Acta Geologica Polonica, 68 (3): 321–334New genus: JolepisNew species: Altholepis salopensisAbstract: Placoid and polyodontode scales of stem chondrichthyans have been found in the early Lochkovian “Ditton Group” of the Brown Clee Hill district, Shropshire, England and at Talgarth, south Wales. One of the forms is assigned to a new species of AltholepisKaratajūtė-Talimaa, 1997, a genus already recognised from Lochkovian shallow marine deposits in Celtiberia, Spain and the Northwest Territories, Canada as well as the type locality in Podolia, Ukraine. Altholepis salopensis sp. nov. is based on small polyodontode scales with typically three to eight high odontodes; the scale form was previously considered to belong to acanthodian “Nostolepis” robusta (Brotzen, 1934). The structure of other scales formerly assigned to “Nostolepis” robusta has led us to erect a new genus Jolepis for this scale form, which differs from Altholepis in lacking an ordered layout of odontodes. Jolepis robusta (Brotzen, 1934), originally (and possibly still) considered to be an acanthodian, is also known from the Baltic countries, Russia, and northern Germany (ex erratic limestones). Scales of acanthodian Parexus recurvus Agassiz, 1845, and/or possibly from the stem chondrichthyan Seretolepis elegans Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 (scales of these two taxa are barely distinguishable), and of stem chondrichthyanPolymerolepis whitei Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 are also present. Altholepis, Jolepis gen. nov., Seretolepis Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 and Polymerolepis Karatajūtė-Talimaa, 1968 are found in marine deposits elsewhere; the British occurrence of these taxa adds to the debate on the sedimentological origins of the Lower Old Red Sandstone deposits in the Welsh Borderland. The geographic range of several early sharks is now known to extend around the Old Red Sandstone continent and beyond.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Sniffing out sharks

Summary: Researchers use environmental DNA to detect the presence of white sharks in local waters.

Full story----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basking sharks can jump as high and as fast as great whites

The second-largest fish in the world can swim more than twice as fast as the average man in the Olympic 50m freestyle

Date: September 20, 2018

Source: Trinity College Dublin

Summary: These gentle giants, which can grow up to 10 m in length, have been recorded jumping out of the water as high and as fast as great white sharks. Marine biologists are unsure why they do this, but have pointed to this phenomenon as evidence of how much we still have to learn about marine life

Full story----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mysterious great white shark lair discovered in Pacific Ocean

A scientific mission into the secret ocean lair of California’s great white sharks has provided tantalizing clues into a vexing mystery — why the fearsome predators spend winter and spring in what has long appeared to be an empty void in the deep sea.

A boatload of researchers from five scientific institutions visited the middle-of-nowhere spot between Baja California and Hawaii this past spring on a quest to learn more about what draws the big sharks to what has become known as the White Shark Cafe, almost as if they were pulled by some astrological stimulus.

Full story----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------